"No More!": Trump Says US Got Only "Lies" From Pak For Billions In Aid | 20018 Decent Start from Trump

Pakistan gives safe haven to terrorists the US hunts in Afghanistan, Donald Trump said

US President Donald Trump ripped into Pakistan on Monday, declaring on Twitter that American governments had over the last 15 years "foolishly" given 33 billion dollars in aid to Islamabad that had gave safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.

"No more!" the US President tweeted, days after Mr Trump singled out Pakistan for criticism in announcing his national security strategy. "We make massive payments every year to Pakistan... They have to help," he had said at the launch of the security strategy just a few days earlier.

The use of a much harsher language in Donald Trump's tweet on Monday suggests an end to the debate within his administration and the decision to deliver on his threat to punish Islamabad for failing to cooperate on counterterrorism. For now.

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!" he tweeted.

Last week, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was seriously weighing whether to withhold $255 million in already delayed aid to Islamabad over its failure to better crack down on terror groups in Pakistan, news agency AFP reported.

US-Pakistani ties have taken a nosedive under Mr Trump, who in August declared that "Pakistan often gives safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror."

In December, Mr Trump had already hinted that he may cut off the aid for good. "We make massive payments every year to Pakistan. They have to help," he said in unveiling his national security strategy.

The US said Pakistan has not acted against terror groups on its soil despite the US request

And last week, Vice President Mike Pence told American troops during a visit to Afghanistan: "President Trump has put Pakistan on notice."

In August last year, the US had warned an angry Pakistan that it could lose its status as a privileged military ally if it continues giving safe haven to Afghan terrorist groups. One day after President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy to force the Taliban to negotiate a political settlement with the Kabul government, his top diplomat upped the heat on Islamabad.

Mr Trump had warned that Pakistan's support for the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani terrorist network would have consequences, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had spelled these out.

"We have some leverage," Mr Tillerson had told reporters, as he fleshed out Mr Trump's speech, "in terms of aid, their status as a non-NATO alliance partner -- all of that can be put on the table."

As one of 16 "Non-NATO Major Allies," Pakistan benefits from billions of dollars in aid and has access to some advanced US military technology banned from other countries.

In 2017, the US already withheld $350 million in military funding over concerns Pakistan is not doing enough to fight terror, but the alliance itself was not in question.